We had quite a lively discussion of The Post-American World at Lou's house. There was some debate about whether the book was too rosy in its treatment of how the emerging superpowers of India and China would interact with the U.S. (and vice versa). While America's "decline" might be seen as only relative to the increases in GDP and other factors in these other large nations, will the U.S. really not be threatened by the rise of "the rest"?
Another consideration is how the environment will suffer as the rest of the world becomes more affluent. What kinds of energy and other resources (air pollution, water pollution) will be affected? Zakarias really glosses over these problems.
Internationalism is upon us and the U.S. has to come to terms with it, for example, by stressing the need for learning foreign languages, and deciding which foreign policies ventures are really in its best interests--and that of the whole world.
Our discussion:
We had quite a lively discussion of The Post-American World at Lou's house. There was some debate about whether the book was too rosy in its treatment of how the emerging superpowers of India and China would interact with the U.S. (and vice versa). While America's "decline" might be seen as only relative to the increases in GDP and other factors in these other large nations, will the U.S. really not be threatened by the rise of "the rest"?
Another consideration is how the environment will suffer as the rest of the world becomes more affluent. What kinds of energy and other resources (air pollution, water pollution) will be affected? Zakarias really glosses over these problems.
Internationalism is upon us and the U.S. has to come to terms with it, for example, by stressing the need for learning foreign languages, and deciding which foreign policies ventures are really in its best interests--and that of the whole world.
A video interview with Zakarias:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA7srwym3Yk
Or click on the Play button below to watch.